The original post: /r/television by /u/okay_then_ on 2026-03-24 23:55:35+00:00.
This has been my favourite show since I first saw it during COVID, where it really helped me to cope with the stress and loneliness of life at the time. I’m a huge media nerd who’s watched nearly every “acclaimed” series under the sun, but I honestly don’t think anything’s impacted me as much as The Leftovers has. I’ve rewatched it several times and probably think about the characters and their stories several times a week. Max Richter’s score is constantly rotating through my playlist.
Now idk if anyone else can relate, but I was an epic redditor when I was a teenager. I loved bacon, praised Gaben, and hated religion. If someone believed in a higher power or practiced any form of spirituality, it’s because they were stupid, evil, or both. “Religion must be abandoned if humanity wants to move forward.”
It was a super arrogant and closed-minded attitude that I unfortunately carried with me into adulthood. It sounds so stupid but I truly only focused on all the negatives of religion, and never once considered there could be any actual positives.
The Leftovers totally shifted my view on that. Like, I’m still an atheist who champions secular politics, but the way this show depicts faith, and all those who struggle with it, really helped me appreciate that side of human culture more. This show depicts every struggle with such tenderness and humanity, it’s pretty much impossible not to empathize with each character. There’s something really beautiful about the constant search for meaning, and how people find hope in the face of inexplicable existential despair. Even if it may not seem logical to someone else, if a person’s sense of belief can bring them any sort of inner peace (without it impacting the inner peace of others), then I’m all for it. Why should anyone care what someone else hopes for? At that point the only evil/stupid person in the room is the guy standing there judging everyone.
I know it sounds dumb, but I can really appreciate the role that faith plays in bringing comfort into people’s lives now, something I’d never truly considered before watching The Leftovers. Just goes to show the importance of storytelling in shifting our perspectives and humanizing others. This show helped me grow.